The present invention relates to a headrest device having a headrest frame body and a stay, which is used in an automobile seat, and more particularly to a headrest device of which the headrest frame body covers a pair of leg member portions of the stay.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 382/1997 or Japanese Utility Model Laid-open Publication No. 113653/1986, for example, a headrest device used in an automobile seat includes, an inverse U-shaped stay having opposing leg member portions which are held by a seat back frame of a vehicle and a connecting portion which connects the leg member portions, and a headrest frame body which supports a headrest pad made of foaming resin. The headrest frame body is extended to a position above the connecting portion of the stay. The connecting portion and the headrest frame body are connected by using brackets or by way of bushings such that a portion of the headrest frame body is curled on the connecting portion.
In such a prior art including means which connects the headrest frame body to the connecting portion of the stay using the brackets and means which connects a portion of the headrest frame body to the connecting portion of the stay by way of the bushing, the center of the headrest frame body is positioned above the connecting portion of the stay. Accordingly, when a load is applied to the headrest device, a force acting on a joint portion between the connecting portion of the stay and the headrest frame body becomes large and hence, it becomes necessary for the joint portion to have a sufficiently large connecting force (fastening force) . However, this increases a frictional force and hence, a manipulation force for tilting the headrest is also increased.
In addition, in forming the headrest pad made of foaming resin on the headrest frame body by an integral molding process, it is necessary to prepare a separate member to protect the brackets or the curled portion from the wraparound of the foaming resin thus making the foaming operation difficult.
On the other hand, assuming that the headrest frame body of the prior art is arranged below the connecting portion of the stay, the leg member portions of the stay become an exposed state to the headrest frame body. Accordingly, the rotational movement of the headrest in the back and forth direction becomes difficult due to the integrated foam molding of the headrest pad.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a headrest device which can overcome such drawbacks of the prior art.
To solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, according to the present invention, as a basic structure, a headrest frame body adopts an overlapped structure made of two sheets of pressed members or a structure made of a single sheet of plate-like pressed member by a press-molded process, wherein the press-molded member cover leg member portions of a stay and a restricting portion which enables the tilting or the movement of the headrest in the back and forth direction is provided.
With the provision of such basic constitutional conception, the tilting of the headrest in the back and forth direction becomes easy and there is no possibility that the tilting of the headrest which has an integral structure made of a headrest pad and a headrest frame body by a foam molding is hampered by the headrest pad.
To be more specific, the present invention provides a headrest device including an inverse U-shaped stay having opposing leg member portions held by a seat back frame of a vehicle and a connecting portion which connects the leg member portions, and a headrest frame body which is supported on the stay such that the headrest frame body is rotatable in the back and forth direction about the connecting portion of the stay, wherein the headrest frame body is comprised of a pair of opposing plate bodies, each plate body comprises a support portion of an approximately semicircular cross section which has a portion coming into contact with the connecting portion of the stay and restricting portions of an approximately U-shaped cross section which cover the leg member portions of the stay and restrict the rotation of the headrest frame body about the connecting portion of the stay, and both plate bodies have a relationship where both plates have support portions and restricting portions thereof opposed and fixedly secured to each other.